Jean-Luc Godard's Two Or Three Things I Know ... - Rialto Pictures

RIALTO PICTURES
Described as “the gold standard of reissue distributors” by Los Angeles
Times/NPR film critic Kenneth Turan, Rialto Pictures was founded in 1997 by
Bruce Goldstein. A year later, Adrienne Halpern joined him as partner. In 2002,
Eric Di Bernardo became the company’s National Sales Director.
Rialto’s past releases have included Renoir’s Grand Illusion; Carol Reed’s The
Third Man; Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria; Jules Dassin’s Rififi; De Sica’s Umberto D;
Godard’s Contempt, Band of Outsiders and A Woman is a Woman; Julien
Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko; Buñuel’s Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Diary of a
Chambermaid, The Phantom of Liberty, The Milky Way and That Obscure Object
of Desire; John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar; Clouzot’s Quai des Orfèvres; Mike
Nichols’ The Graduate; The Maysles’ Grey Gardens; Mel Brooks’ The Producers;
Jacques Becker’s Touchez Pas Au Grisbi; Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar and
Mouchette; Franju’s Eyes Without A Face; and Melville’s Bob le Flambeur and Le
Cercle Rouge. In 2002, the company released the acclaimed first-run film
Murderous Maids, the chilling true story of two homicidal sisters.
Rialto’s 2004 slate included the original 1954 Japanese version of Godzilla; the
Oscar-winning 1974 documentary Hearts and Minds; and Gillo Pontecorvo’s The
Battle of Algiers, which became one of the year’s top-grossing foreign films. The
company’s 2005/2006 releases included Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows,
Godard’s Masculine Feminine, Claude Berri’s The Two of Us, Bresson’s
Mouchette, and Claude Sautet’s rarely-seen film noir classic Classe Tous
Risques.
Rialto’s current releases are Carol Reed’s rediscovered masterwork The Fallen
Idol, the French swashbuckling classic Fanfan La Tulipe, starring Gérard Philipe
and Gino Lollobrigida, and Melville’s Army of Shadows, being released in the
U.S. for the very first time. A box office disappointment to Melville in his lifetime,
Army of Shadows has become the most acclaimed film of 2006.
In early 2007, Rialto will re-release Alberto Lattuada’s rediscovered black
comedy Mafioso, starring the legendary Italian star Albert Sordi. Mafioso was a
sensation when screened at this year’s New York Film Festival. Writing in The
New York Times, A.O. Scott called it “an utter blast” and “a film festival unto
itself.”
In 1999, Rialto received a special Heritage Award from the National Society of
Film Critics, and in 2000 received a special award from the New York Film Critics
Circle, presented to Goldstein and Halpern by Jeanne Moreau. The two copresidents
have each received the French Order of Chevalier of Arts and Letters.
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